Are You Feeling a Little Finer, Miss Norene?

Have you ever thought of volunteering to live and work in a developing country to really get to know the people, land and customs? This is the story of Norene's year of teaching in the northern part of Namibia in a village school, her work experiences and travel opportunities in this country and other countries in Africa. She fell in love with the students and adults. She gained valuable insights and left feeling she gained much more than she gave. It is an experience she will always treasure.

My career was in education starting in Ohio where I grew up. I taught there and then with the Air Force Dependent Schools in Japan and England. I met my husband, DeWitt, in the same school in England. After we married we lived in Mountain View, California where we both taught for a number of years. In 1967-68 we were in American Samoa in an isolated village with our two young sons. DeWitt was the school principal of the school there. That experience changed our lives for the better, I feel. We returned to the San Francisco Bay area and were involved in education there until retirement. We then moved to the Puget Sound area of Washington state where our sons had moved.

Our family enjoyed traveling very much and DeWitt and I wrote accounts of the many trips we were fortunate to take. This will be the first one to be published by a "real" publisher. I feel that I am qualified to write this account after living and working in Namibia for a year. I learned many things about the people and country and wish to share these with people who are interested in education, wish to learn about one of the developing countries and enjoy traveling.

During my lifetime I've been able to see a number of countries including several in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, the Samoas, Fiji, Japan, Thailand, Kenya, Myanmar, Nepal, Canada, a little bit of Mexico, South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia and the city of Hong Kong. I feel really blessed by having the opportunity to do this.

My husband died in 1998 but I continue to live here in Mukilteo, Washington. My son, Brad lives a few miles away and my other son, Doug lives with his wife, Merrie, in Bellingham seventy miles north of here. My foster granddaughter, Racheal lives up north, as well. I enjoy my life and have many interests including ballroom dancing with my partner, Ron, outdoor activities, music, being with family and friends and traveling to see other parts of the world.